Job Ayo Akinde (born 8 July 1989), known as John Akinde, is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays for club

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team of the ...

. He previously played for Barnet from 2014 to 2018 and for Lincoln City from 2018 to 2020. In the 2014–15 season, he led the Conference Premier league in scoring, helping Barnet win the league. In the 2018–19 season, he led Lincoln City in scoring, helping them win League Two.

Career

Akinde's youth career started at Tottenham. Akinde played for

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merger ...

where he was a graduate of the club's academy under their previous name, Gravesend and Northfleet. In 28 league appearances for Gravesend/Ebbsfleet, Akinde scored 10 goals, he also won the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

with Ebbsfleet in the season before joining Bristol City, laying on the winning goal in the final at Wembley against Torquay United. He had a loan spell at

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

and two loan spells at Whitstable Town.

Bristol City

In 2008, Akinde was sold to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

for £140,000 following the first ever transfer decided by a fans poll, in this case by the members of

MyFootballClub MyFootballClub is an English Industrial and Provident Society that sought, starting in August 2007, to recruit at least 50,000 football enthusiasts from across the world to purchase an English association football club. MyFootballClub's premi ...

He scored on his debut for Bristol City in a 2–2 draw against

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

. Later in the season, Akinde signed for an initial month on loan to

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

, on 11 March 2009. He also scored on his Wycombe debut, netting twice against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

in a 3–3 draw. Further goals against

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

led to the loan deal being extended until the end of the season. On 13 November 2009, he returned to Wycombe Wanderers on a month's loan, this later being extended to two months, but he was recalled early by

on 7 January 2010. On 1 February 2010, Akinde joined Brentford on a month's loan, making two league appearances, one of which against former loan club Wycombe Wanderers. He went out on loan for a fourth time in August 2010 when he joined

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

in a deal scheduled to last until 5 January. In January 2011 Akinde joined

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

on loan until the end of the season.

Crawley Town

On 27 May 2011, newly promoted Crawley Town beat off higher league competition to sign Akinde for the 2011–12 season. He scored his first league goal for

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

away to

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

at the

New Meadow New Meadow, also known as The Croud Meadow for sponsorship purposes, is a stadium situated on the southern outskirts of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, between the districts of Meole Brace and Sutton Farm, and close to the A5. It serves the home grou ...

on 27 February 2012. On 17 March 2012, Akinde joined fellow League Two side Dagenham & Redbridge on loan for the remainder of the season, along with

Charlie Wassmer Charlie Wassmer (born 21 March 1991) is an English semi-professional footballer who plays as a defender for Gosport Borough. Wassmer started his career at Hayes & Yeading United FC before catching the eye of Crawley Town – where he won prom ...

. However, on 12 April 2012, Crawley recalled Akinde and fellow loanee Charlie Wassmer, to their push for promotion from League Two. On 31 January 2013, Akinde was released by Crawley. On 8 February, he joined

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in a month-to-month contract. He made his debut a day later, against

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

. Akinde was released by Portsmouth at the end of the season, after failing to score in his 11 appearances for Pompey. He signed for

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

in August 2013 on a one-year contract. He made his debut against

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

before scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in his second game as Alfreton beat Salisbury City 3–2. He scored 18 goals in 42 league gamesthat season.

Barnet

Akinde joined

on a two-year deal on 24 May 2014. In his first season for the club he scored 31 league goals making him the division's top goal scorer, as

won the

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

. In the 2015–16 season, Akinde scored 23 goals, helping the team to a 15th-placed finish and finishing as the 3rd top goal scorer in the League. At the end of the season, Akinde signed a three-year deal. On 22 April 2017, Akinde scored his 48th

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

goal for the Bees to become their highest-ever League goalscorer, surpassing Sean Devine's record. He was transfer-listed by Barnet at the end of the 2017–18 season.

2018–present

On 6 July 2018, Akinde signed a three-year deal with League Two club Lincoln City, and top scored for the Imps in the 2018–19 season as they won League Two. On 24 January 2020 he joined League One side Gillingham for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for the club the following day in a 2–2 away league draw against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

, where he provided an assist for Gillingham's second goal. Akinde attracted interest in the January 2021

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

from

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

but nothing materialised and he remained at Gillingham. On 27 January 2022, Akinde reached a mutual agreement with Gillingham to terminate his contract and signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

side

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

. He made his league debut for the

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

side two days later, appearing as a 66th-minute substitute in 1–1 home draw against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

and providing an assist for the 92nd-minute equaliser by teammate

Emyr Huws Emyr Wyn Huws (born 30 September 1993) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for the Wales national team. He retired in December 2023. He came through the youth systems of Swansea City and Manchester City before ...

. On 8 May 2024, the club announced he would be released in the summer when his contract expired. After being released by Colchester United, Akinde joined

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

side

Personal life

Akinde was born in

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

and is of Nigerian descent. Akinde's brother Sam (born 1993) has also played at Ebbsfleet, Alfreton and Barnet. The brothers have played together at the latter two clubs.

Career statistics

Honours

Ebbsfleet United *

: 2007–08 Wycombe Wanderers *

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

third-place promotion: 2008–09 Crawley Town *Football League Two third-place promotion: 2011–12 Barnet *

: 2014–15 Lincoln City *

: 2018–19 Individual *Conference Premier Player of the Month: December 2014 *Conference Premier Player of the Year: 2014–15 *

Player of the Year: 2014–15, 2016–17 *Barnet Player's Player of the Year: 2014–15, 2016–17 *Non-League Footballer's Association Player of the Year: 2014–15 *Conference Premier Team of the Year: 2014–15 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 2018–19 League Two

Notes

References

External links

John Akinde profile
at Alfreton Town F.C. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Akinde, John 1989 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Southwark People from Camberwell English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Whitstable Town F.C. players Margate F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Black British sportsmen 21st-century Black British people English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent 21st-century English sportsmen